#he’s so pathetically in love with Michonne I adore him

[terriblegam2r]

I’m still not over Rick creating Richonne fanfiction in his head to make his life worth living.

I’ve been doing that for 9 years Rick you ain’t special.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Walking Dead: The Tower (10x15)

It looks like the finale of The Walking Dead has been postponed because of COVID-19, so this is where we will be leaving these characters for a while. How does this episode hold up as a finale? Let's dive in!

Cons:

I think Daryl and Judith are adorable and I always like seeing them together, but their scenes in this particular episode didn't really work for me the way I think they were supposed to. Far too sentimental, if I'm being honest. It just felt like Daryl was making a declaration that "I'll never leave you... but I can't promise because we don't know what's going to happen," specifically so people can be scared he's going to die. Now, I don't think they'll kill Daryl off. I think he's one of the last things holding this show together, honestly. But that whole moment with Judith seemed designed specifically to tease the potential of him getting hurt or dying or disappearing soon. I hate that kind of plodding, heavy-handed foreshadowing. And Judith was a little bit too "kid on TV" for me this week, with her pathetic little voice saying she doesn't want Daryl to leave her like Michonne did.

Also... Negan telling Lydia that he tied her up to keep her safe is such malarkey. It makes no sense that Lydia was ever tied up in the first place; it was so clearly just done to fool the audience about Negan's loyalties.

Pros:

One thing I did kind of appreciate about Judith and Daryl was that moment when Judith admits that Michonne is going off to help some people that she met, but she doesn't mention Rick. It's interesting to me that she kept that information back, even as I was dying to know what Daryl's reaction to the news would have been.

I liked Kelly and Carol spending some time together. You'd expect Kelly to hate Carol for her role in Connie's very-probable death, but in fact, Kelly says she understands Carol. She knows that she's always been the person who needs to handle things in her own way. And she gets being in denial about the right thing to do. I also loved how Kelly talked about sign language. As she has started to lose her hearing, she's been scared about what that means - but her Deafness is actually her super-power, as everyone around her starts to learn some ASL to be able to communicate with her. That's such an incredible and empowering message, and now I'm really hoping that knowing sign language is going to be a key skill in a vital moment. Maybe the gang can pass messages to each other discreetly without alerting Beta and the others? We'll have to see!

Beta has completely lost it, and it is honestly kind of fascinating to see. He has taken control of the Whisperers, but he bristles at the implication that he's the new Alpha. He remains Beta, and woe be to anyone who says otherwise. As the episode ends, we see the hoard closing in on our gang of intrepid heroes, leaving us on one hell of a cliffhanger. I want to be annoyed about this, because Alpha's death didn't actually really change much in terms of the Whisperers being a threat... but also, I think Beta is going more for an all-or-nothing strategy, while Alpha might have taken her time and tried something a bit more nuanced and clever. Also, we weren't meant to be left with this cliffhanger for long, and I can't exactly blame the show runners for the real-life pandemic that has put a temporary halt to the fake one in The Walking Dead.

My favorite part of this episode was the story with Princess! At first, I kept wondering if we were going to find out somehow that Princess was the person who had been talking to Eugene, luring him here in need of companionship, but that's not the route we went here. Princess really is just a loner trying to survive in a crazy world. Her isolation has clearly started to affect her mind. When Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Eugene meet Princess, she seems erratic at best, insane at worst. She scares away their horses with gunfire, and seems not at all self-conscious about the creepy Walker tableaux she has set up through town.

But she also wants to help. So even as Eugene is anxious to move on and reach the rendezvous, they follow Princess in search of promised vehicles. She leads them into a mine field, apparently just an accidental detour, but at the end of the day her loneliness and despair really endear her to the gang, and Yumiko, the most suspicious and cold from the start, extends her an invitation to join them on their journey.

I love Princess. She is an instantly invigorating presence on the show. She's funny, she's erratic to the point where you can't ever feel quite safe with her, which adds an interesting element. I loved the parallel between Princess and Eugene, as well. He too has lied to people just to keep them around. That's how we met him on the show, when he was pretending to have government information so Abraham and Rosita would keep him safe.

I liked that this whole plot thread sort of felt like a wacky detour, but also introduced a new character, who could be quite interesting, either in the short-term or as a more permanent addition to the cast. I'm also desperately wishing I could see Eugene meet his radio friend now... I can't believe we have to wait to find out more!

So there you have it. This episode was obviously not intended as a finale when it was written and shot, but I think it works pretty well nevertheless. We'll see how long we have to wait before we see the conclusion, and Maggie's return!

8/10

[everythingandeveryplace]

I got these gifs off of We Heart It, please let me know if they belong to you!

Finding Family Part 2

•Daryl Dixon x OFC•

Everyone had been set up in guest rooms for their overnight stay at Georgetown  and after an incredibly tense meeting the future of trade between Alexandria and the prospering community still remained undecided.

"They're gonna say no. Not a chance in hell we're getting even a taste of this shit." Abraham sighed, his head resting against the LaZ boy recliner  in Ricks room for the night.

"We don't know that." Michonne argued.

"Sure we do, y'all saw the way they looked at the girl. I hurt their people bad, no way any of us are gonna be welcomed here after today." Merle chuckled dryly, he was trying to hide the guilt and disappointment he felt in himself and had Daryl not known him his entire life he might have mistaken it for carelessness.

"We should have left him at home. What good ever comes from bringing Merle Dixon anywhere?" Glenn grumbled and Maggie pat his thigh comfortingly.

"Michonnes right, We don't know yet. these people are very reasonable, I've spoken to them, they know me and besides Lily would never leave us out to dry. She isn't like that." Rick nodded firmly.

"That was before we turned our backs on her and let Merle stay after everything that happened. We betrayed that girl, if I was her I wouldn't give us a damn thing." Carol was perched on the edge of the bed, her eyes sad and slightly angry as she regarded Merle. The older woman's gaze wandered over to Daryl for just a split second and the underlying disappointment in the clear blue made his stomach hurt, he stood up and grabbed his crossbow from the floor.

"Goin for a walk." He grumbled, Merle stood to follow but Daryl was quick to turn to him and shake his head "alone." He bit out.

The halls of the community center at Georgetown we're huge, over 20 rooms on each floor. Charlie had explained that the community center was where most of the residents who didn't have family lived, they were single rooms and it provided a sense of family in one large building for the residents who preferred not to be alone in their own home. It also was the same building as the mess hall, and that's exactly where he heard the familiar voice he had missed and replayed over and over on his head for two full years.

"Thanks Nellie, you're our new best friend forever. We will remember this moment for when grey carries on my iconic legacy. you will have a special page in my autobiography." Lili backed out of the kitchen, the beautiful baby boy wrapped up in her arms and a pint of vanilla ice cream in his.

"It's just because I love you both." A grey haired  woman in an apron shooed them out of the kitchen and winked, blowing a kiss at the curly haired little boy waving back at her.

"And we love you." Lili turned back towards the cafeteria and the smile she had been wearing slipped from her features when her eyes met Daryl's.

God it hurt.

Swallowing thickly he willed his feet to march over to the two, awkwardly rubbing his neck when he was close enough.

"I was just checking the place out. S'nice." He mumbled, eyes involuntarily falling on the little boy with the the sandy blonde curls staring up at him.

"Yeah. We have a really great system going here. Good people too." Greyson wiggled in her arms and Lili looked down "words." She smiled softly, urging him to speak gently.

"Down." He whispered "pease." His smile was wide and goofy and so damn adorable it almost physically hurt Daryl.

Lili beamed with pride

"You got it love." She gently placed him on the floor and peeled the top of the container off, sticking a metal spoon in the sweet vanilla ice cream and ruffling his hair.

Daryl watched in wonder as Greyson lifted himself onto a cafeteria bench and began taking tiny but determined bites of the sugary dessert.

"He's a smart kid. Little to be doin' all that aint' he?"

Daryl turned his attention back to Lili who was smiling in complete adoration at the boy with the matching eyes.

"Grey is very advanced, we have a former pediatrician who works in our infirmary and she says she's never seen someone his age  grasp language skills quite as fast as Greyson." She finally pulled her eyes away from her son and looked at Daryl, he could practically see the pride in her smile.

"Gets it from you. Ya always we're good at talkin'"

For a moment when her blue eyes sparkle and her nose scrunches up, Daryl's taken back to five years ago stranded in that damn lake with an arrow through his side and a pretty blonde woman dragging him through the mud and asking "where in the holy hot hell" did he come from.

"That's about all he gets from me except the hair, I carried him around for nine months only for him to come out a splitting image of his father." She laughed quietly.

"Got my nose.. and my mamas eyes." Daryl whispered as they both stared at Greyson.

"And your lips. Not to mention he catches the Georgia sun like you wouldn't believe, five minutes outside and he's golden brown, just like you." She smiled.

"Got your hankerin' for the sweets though." Daryl offered chuckling when Greyson sent a spoonful of vanilla halfway across the room.

"And your tendency to leave a mess." Lili raised a brow and pulled a rag from her pocket, wiping the melted ice cream off of her sons cheeks.

"Beautiful though. Real beautiful." He whispered, his palms itched to touch his son, to see if he was real, if this was something that he had helped to create. There was no way any Dixon could ever make something so beautiful and perfect.

"Still carrying' around that crossbow huh?" Lili nodded towards his practically third arm.

"Sure am. Never gettin' rid of her." He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.

"Don't I know it." The beautiful blonde smiled fondly at the weapon that had saved her life more times than she could count "I'm still sticking to my knives, although I don't get out much to use em. I stay inside the walls mainly, take care of the sick and injured."

"Sounds nice, ya were meant for that. Made to help people." Daryl clarified, tracing her features with his eyes, memorizing every new scar and freckle, every laugh line, the last time he had seen her she had been bruised and swollen beyond recognition. The image of Dwight carrying her near lifeless body out of the saviors compound was forever burned in his mind.

"Sometimes I miss it out there, the adrenaline, the chase." Lili sighed before shaking her head and smiling at her son "but I can't take risks like that anymore, not unless I have too. Grey needs his mom. last week I went on a run because we needed specific medications and I left him with Dwight for two days, I came back covered in walker blood and Greyson just threw himself at me. I had to give him two baths just to get all that funk out of his hair." She giggled, scrunching her nose at the memory.

"He's a good boy." Daryl caught her sea green eyes and stared longingly at the woman he loved more than anything in this world.

"The best." She nodded, a sadness filtering across her face.

"Miss you every damn day." Daryl whispered, the words heart breakingly honest.

"You made a choice." Lili whispered back, wrapping her arms around her body tight, shielding herself from the one person who could ever truly hurt her.

"It was the wrong choice, I know that now," his voice broke, shadowed eyes dark and lost.

"It's too late now. You can't take it back.. you made your choice, you chose him."

"He's my brother." Daryl begged, he needed her to understand, no matter how impossible it was and how wrong it was he wanted her to understand.

"He's a monster." Lilis eyes filled with tears that she desperately tried to blink back "the things he did to me.. I can't.. when he was strangling me.. breaking my ribs all I could think about was getting back to you. I thought I was going to die and I didn't want to do that to you, I wanted to live for you. And then I came back to you, I fought for you only for you to allow that man back in our home, to sleep on the same floor as I did, to eat where I ate."

If it was possible Daryl could feel his heart cracking in his chest, the pain almost unbearable.

"I loved you with everything I had and I fought for you, I would have done anything for you and you gave up on me. You traded me in for your brother." She whispered, her voice far away.

"He's my family Lili." It sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

"And he's mine." Lili raised her voice, throwing her hand out to the little boy who was now curiously listening to the conversation and smiling up at the two adults as they turned to look at him.

"He's mine too." Daryl tried.

The woman before him narrowed her eyes and shook her head

"No.. no he isn't. You gave that claim up the second you let me walk out the doors of Alexandria. You made a decision, I told you when I left that there was no coming back from it and I meant that. Merle is your family. Greyson is mine."

"Lil please, I have too..."

"You're all going to be able to trade here, I told Charlie that you were all good people, that the past was the past and it had nothing to do with helping your people. You'll get what you need and then you can go, I don't want you bringing that man back to my home. By the time I put Greyson to sleep tomorrow I want to forget you both were ever here." With that Lili picked up Greyson and walked straight out of the mess hall doors leaving a broken hearted Daryl Dixon staring after the love of his life and their son.

It couldn't end like this.

He wouldn't let it.